How to list files in a stopped Docker container

Question

This question shows how to copy files out of a stopped container. This requires that I know the full path to the file including its file name. I know the directory I want to copy a file out of, but I do not know its file name since that is generated dynamically. How do I list the files in a directory in a stopped Docker container?

The following Docker command works great if the Docker container is running. But, it fails if the Docker container is stopped.

docker exec --privileged MyContainer ls -1 /var/log 

Note: The files are not stored in a persistent volume.

Answer 1

This answer to another question shows how to start a stopped container with another command. Here are the commands to list files in a stopped container.

1. Commit the stopped container to a new image: test_image.
   • docker commit $CONTAINER_ID test_image
2. Run the new image in a new container with a shell.
   • docker run -ti --entrypoint=sh test_image
3. Run the list file command in the new container.
   • docker exec --privileged $NEW_CONTAINER_ID ls -1 /var/log

Answer 2

When starting the container is not an option, you can always export your image (a bit overkill but..) and list its contents:

docker export -o dump.tar <container id>  tar -tvf dump.tar 

Reference: Baeldung - Exploring a Docker Container’s Filesystem